Priorities That Changed

Having grown up in the South during the 1960s and 1970s....it's an odd thing to admit today that you never thought much about a defensive posture for your farm or home. 

Among my top ten worries in 1975 (being 16)?

1.  Snakes
2.  Lightning storms causing a tree to fall upon the house
3.  Another 1973 gas crisis
4.  A hailstorm destroying the crop of soy-beans
5.  Ministers going beyond noon on some hyped-up sermon
6.  Tornado watches
7.  Tornado warnings
8.  Wild dogs
9.  Mad bulls
10. Brakes going out on the 20-year-old farm truck

Nowhere in that list, do you see a reason for anyone to worry about meth-heads, home break-in's, home invasions, paranoid schizophrenic folks, or physical violence (other than the mad bull thing). 

After the 1990s, when I'd come to visit or just look at news reports from the region....you'd notice this unusual event, or this meth-head attacking someone.  Murders started to be noted for crazy reasons. 

So in this past decade, people evaluate their situation (even in a rural setting) and they go to be armed.

Cops like the AR-15.  Private citizens also like the AR-15.  Chief reasons?  It's light, effective, easily to reload, and doesn't fail.  I emphasize the 'doesn't fail' term....because if awakened at 2 AM....if confronted, you just don't want a weapon to fail.

Shotguns?  We've gone in the past thirty years way beyond the standard double-barreled shotgun.  Eight shotgun rounds in a pump-action shotgun?  More than enough.

You look at the crazy story from central Georgia from August....three young gentlemen at 4 AM, on a mission to do a home-invasion routine.   All three dead now.  The story on helps to sell more weapons.

Whether the political agenda folks grasp it or not....the landscape is simply not the 1960s or 1970s.  It's a rough world, and some people are living on the last twenty-four hours of their life, whether they like to admit that or not.  If you had a juvenile or two in the house and running a bit on the wild side....you might want to have a last prayer for the kid each morning.  Things have changed.